iainboyd Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I've been a happy Mac user for over 20 years, so have no idea what else is out there, but that time may have come. I use iMacs (21.5 and 27) for Logic at two locations. I like the font and icon sizes in Logic on the 21.5" model, but it's not a big screen. The 27" has more space, but the pixel resolution is so high that I find the fonts in Logic uncomfortably small. This is just age I fear. The new iMac models don't offer anything new in terms of managing resolution and I find using the non-native resolutions just too unattractive. So, I am thinking of trying a fully loaded Mac Mini with a 3rd party monitor, perhaps a 30" beast but with a similar pixel count to Apple's 27" . In this way I am hoping to get everything at a comfortable size and plenty of screen real estate. Anyone else have this problem and tried this kind of solution on a Dell or other make? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6smith Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I found the opposite to be true for me... The bigger the monitor the harder it was for me to see clearly... I know exactly what you mean with the 27inch iMac... I have to use my glasses when looking at it otherwise i just cannot see the fine detail and the fonts are too small to comfortably read... and in trying a few of the 30" models out there the problem grew worse.. I never found one that i could see with ease.. despite some having supposedly lower pixel counts than the 27" iMac.. I also found I got a sore neck using the bigger 30" models.. I assume from scanning left to right on a screen that was too close to be properly viewed without doing so.. but if i moved the Monitor further away from me to compensate for it's size and so i could easily see the whole screen without turning my head...then I couldn't read the fonts again... In the end, for my Mac Minis... I got the Samsung 1920x1200 Monitor (I paid $269 at the time..and bought a second after seeing how clearly I could read the fonts/text etc..) and they works great for me... Perfect size, clear fonts, crisp clear colors.. and a great price! http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-S24A450BW-Business-1920x1200-Resolution/dp/B005T482OS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webstersp Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I had also problems with imac 27 and logic. When I changed my imac 27 for a brand new macbook pro retina 15 inch it was a lot easier for me. But when I at home I put my macbook pro in a dock and hook it up to a samsung 32 inch led TV with a resolution of 1920x1080, this is the best of both world for me!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
route-electrique Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 No problems here with 30" screen with Logic, maybe i have supervision . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlchen Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I would highly recommend any monitors in the Dell Ultrasharp line. I had tried two Asus LED monitors which were less expensive and both models had problems with clarity and calibration of color. My cousin recommended I try a Dell so I bought the Ultrasharp U2412M (24 in), plugged it in with HDMI and it was good to go. However, they do tend to run a bit more expensive than other brands. I don't have any experience with Samsung monitors so I can't comment there. Edit: By the way, I'm running the Ultrasharp out of a new mac mini. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Mayfield Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 No problems here with 30" screen with Logic, maybe i have supervision . Going off-topic, but... Hooray for Helsinki! I visited 13 years ago and it was beautiful. Back then, relatively few people in the US had mobile phones, but almost everyone in Finland did thanks to Nokia. En puhu suomea - but you just made a pun in English: Supervision = having a boss or someone more experienced "watching over" Super vision = amazingly great eyesight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainboyd Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Thanks for your replies. I'm still trying to get my head around this as my brain has been deprived of the need to think, thanks to years of the Apple 'just works' philosophy (O irony.) The iMac 21.5" has a pixel count of 1920x1080 and I'm happy with the size of icons and fonts. My only real problem that I can't see all track and mixer info without scrolling around (let's ignore my workflow habits which are probably very poor). If I got a 24" monitor which is also 1920x1080, am I right in thinking I wouldn't be able to actually see any more of Logic? Everything would just be a bit bigger, correct? While we're here, there's no way of scaling the screen components of Logic is there, that I've just overlooked? I have been doing the maths to calculate pixels per square inch. On the 21.5" iMac it's about 10.6k whereas on the 27" it's about 11.6k. Not as much difference as I had expected, but presumably it is this difference in pixel density that makes the icons and text appear smaller on the larger screen? Or is there something else going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6smith Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 While we're here, there's no way of scaling the screen components of Logic is there, that I've just overlooked? While I have a moment I'll take a stab at this question.... Yes....and No... You cannot scale Logic itself.... but you can use Logic's preferences to Scale up the size of Logic's own AU plugins Other 3rd Party Plugins such as u-he's Diva and Zebra Plugins also provide a means of scaling up their plugins too... but this ability is not common amongst the majority of 3rd party plugins unfortunately. There are also a couple of settings in Logic's prefs that can help such as 'Wide Playhead' and 'Large Local Windows Menus' that can help a little... Finally, I find I use OS X's Accessibility 'Full Screen Zoom' feature... (Ctrl + Scroll if enabled..) to zoom in the screen for a closer look at things but unfortunately, the more you zoom in, the more indistinct the display becomes because of how the zoom is achieved. See System Prefs/Accessibility for more info... Hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
route-electrique Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 No problems here with 30" screen with Logic, maybe i have supervision . Going off-topic, but... Hooray for Helsinki! I visited 13 years ago and it was beautiful. Back then, relatively few people in the US had mobile phones, but almost everyone in Finland did thanks to Nokia. En puhu suomea - but you just made a pun in English: Supervision = having a boss or someone more experienced "watching over" Super vision = amazingly great eyesight Hey, thanks for the lesson . Big mistake!, even english is my 2nd language . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainboyd Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 Thanks again for replies. Can anyone tell me if I've got the right idea (as in my previous post) about how pixels density and screen size relate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 The relation is simple: anything you see on screen, has a size in pixels that is fixed. So, if you change to a coarser resolution, you get less pixels on the same size screen, therefore the pixels are bigger, therefore the items on screen are bigger. Tradeoff: if the items on screen are bigger, less of them will fit on, so you probably have to scroll more. Pixel density is just the inverse function of pixel size: density bigger, pixel smaller. My screen can do 1920x1080, but the visibility is much more comfortable for me at 1600x900. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6smith Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 First and foremost.... Merry Christmas Erik... I hope you do not incur the wrath of Zwarte Piet this year... My screen can do 1920x1080, but the visibility is much more comfortable for me at 1600x900. But... do you not also find that if your set your screen resolution to anything less than 1:1 to the monitor's 'native resolution' the display gets 'fuzzy' in comparison to a screen rez that is 1:1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Merry Christmas to you too Nigel; hope you don't have to do too much boating to get about... I just switched to 1360x768, very nice for reading & writing. No, I don't 'suffer' from this "increased fuzzyness" at all, it could even be that 1600x900 is the native resolution of this monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.